350 Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. [No. 4. 



Kelaart, J. A. S, XX, 185,* (perhaps S. niger^ Elliot, of Horsfield's 

 Catalogue?) : the other sent as the "large godown Shrew of Randy," 

 and according pretty well with Schinz's description of S. serpenta- 

 rius, Belanger. Length of head and body about 4f in. ; tail 2| in. ; 

 tarse to end of claws \\ in. ; skull l T \in. Colour dusky slate, with 

 rufescent tips to the fur of the upper- parts ; beneath the fur is shorter 

 and more appressed, and somewhat paler, with a faint tinge of rufous 

 about the breast. Not improbably undescribed, and quite distinct 

 from the two other Ceylon Shrews described J. A. S. XX, 163. 



Sciurus. Of this genus, Dr. Kelaart has only sent a fragment of 

 the skin of a young Sc. macrourus, Forster (var. of a ruddy-white 

 or whitish-isabelline colour) ; and, on loan, a skin of the rufous-capped 

 Striped Squirrel, Sc. Kelaarti, Layard (vide note to J. A. S. XX, 

 166), remarkable for having its three pale dorsal stripes unusually clear 

 whitish, the five dark stripes unusually blackish and strongly contrast- 

 ing, the medial whitish stripe narrow and the lateral broad, and the 

 crown but faintly tinged with fulvous. Neither this nor Sc. Brodiei 

 are very satisfactorily distinguished from Sc. tristriatus, of which 

 they seem to be local varieties merely ; all retaining the deep rufous 

 tinge under the tail by which they may be at once distinguished from 

 Sc. palmarum, and it remains to ascertain whether the voice sever- 

 ally differs, as is so remarkably exemplified by Sc. palmarum and 



SC. TRISTRIATUS. f 



The Murid^ sent are — Gerbillus indicus, skin and examples 

 in spirit, — Mus indicus, Geoffroy, in spirit, — M. flavescens, Gray, 



* Of two specimens of this Shrew sent formerly by Dr. Kelaart, one was labelled 

 S. montanus by mistake, and we thus came to describe both by the name 

 montanus in J. A. S. XX, 163, dropping the name ferrugineus by which 

 Dr. Kelaart has since described the same species in XX, 185. He now writes 

 word that he agrees in considering the two specimens referred to as being of one 

 species, his S. ferrugineus ; whilst his S. montanus has never been sent here 

 at all, his only specimen having been forwarded to Dr. Andrew Smith in England. 



f In a communication just received from Mr. Layard, it seems that he also is 

 now of opinion that Sc. Brodiei and Sc. Kelaarti may be varieties of Sc. tris- 

 triatus ; but in Ann. Mag. N. H., 1852, p. 335, he states of Sc. Brodiei that 

 its voice is far more shrill than that of Sc. tristriatus ; and also of Sc. 

 Layardi, nobis, that — " I shot it in dense jungle, being attracted to it by the 

 voice ." but the last is undoubtedly a strongly marked distinct species. 



